Help me identify this?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BWsoaps

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
64
Reaction score
25
Hey guys how are you? Hope your all ok.
I've not been on for a while as I've been busy with work, but I recently made a new batch of soap after a few months brake.

But something went wrong.
I have attached pictures of my soap.
If you look you can see spots on it?!?!?
What are they? Are they the dreaded orange spots people talk of?
Is it lye?
Is it essential oil?
And will they slowly go away?
Is the soap usable?

Lots of questions lol

The recipy is as follows

35oz olive oil
14oz coconut oil
7oz lye
80ml essential oil (grapefruit)

Mixed at 110F until trace.

Left 24 hours to set in a warm place.

My other soaps are fine, and I've had soap do this to me before, I'm just curious to know what it is?

Thanks a lot

Liam ImageUploadedBySoap Making1457641352.965524.jpgImageUploadedBySoap Making1457641386.114199.jpg
 
Soda ash. If that is what it is, it caused by un-reacted lye coming into contact with CO2 in the air. It is harmless. You can wash it off or plane it off or just embrace it.
 
You're talking about the dark spots right? Hard to say from the picture, but it could be colorant that wasn't mixed in well, essential oil, or other oils that separated out. I'd have to know more about the ingredients in your recipe.

I've had essential and/or fragrance oils that pool or spot on top of soaps, but then do re absorb.

The pictures shows a white haze on your soap which is probably ash and not hazardous at all.

As for dos, it doesn't look like dos at all to me and it would be very odd to have dos on brand new soap unless the oils were already very rancid.

ETA; weird computer - just got the larger close up pic of the soap. You soaped at 110 and left it in a "warm" place - warm like an oven? I'm wondering if the soap was a little too hot and some separation started. However, I've had fragrance and essential oils make wet spots on the outsides of the soap which reabsorbed in a day or two. The white haze does look like ash, but if your soap gelled then I find that odd.

I'm eager to hear other's opinions.
 
Last edited:
Try running it under the faucet and see if it disappears. If it does, then it's ash. Try slicing a bar, and if it looks fine inside, that's also a good indication it's ash. Ash only forms on the outside of the soap. These things are tricky to diagnose from pictures, but that's what I'd guess it is. It's purely cosmetic, it doesn't affect the quality of the soap at all.
 
Looks like a normal, typical case of ash to me, too. No worries, though- nothing unusual. Ash is a common part of soap-making that many of us deal with from time to time, and for some of us more often than not. Ditto what Kchaystack said in regards to the cause.

If you ask me, the darker dots just look like normal parts of the soap that didn't get covered by the ash. Just run the soap under water while wiping with a cloth or soft toothbrush. If it's ash, it should come right off.


IrishLass :)
 
Hey guys.

Thanks for your feed back it is more than I could of asked for.

Judging from what you all said and reassessing the soap I do think it's ash.

I originally assumed that the dark parts where DOS.

I'm so happy it can be used.

Also when I said warm place I just meant I wrapped the moulds in a towel and put them in the cupboard.

Thank you for your help :)

P.s if anyone wants to add anything as to what steps could be taken next time to minimise this ASH effect I would gladly welcome Thanks ✌
 
One thing I didn't catch in your first post was how much water you used (maybe I missed it). The one thing that's significantly helped decrease/eliminate ash for me is to decrease my water. My normal is 1.8:1 water:lye ratio (lye concentration 35.7%). Hope this helps!

Beautiful colored soap, BTW. Perfect to match the grapefruit scent!
 
Thank you very much, it's red oxide powder.

I used 7.20oz lye and 16.8oz water(from what I can remember with looking at the paper work)

That's the amount it tells me too use on all the info websites.
Without looking at the paper work*
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hey guys, just sending you an updated picture of my soap.

This is a week later.

I would say that's ash

ImageUploadedBySoap Making1457877404.568928.jpg
 
P.s if anyone wants to add anything as to what steps could be taken next time to minimise this ASH effect I would gladly welcome Thanks ✌

There's nothing really wrong with the 30% lye concentration you're using, but the higher water combined with a soft recipe might be prone to ash. A little less water and some palm (or other hard oil) in the mix would help by hardening and saponifying faster. With soft recipes it's also extra important to get a good trace before you pour. That could be a factor too.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top